Assistance League of Hawaii Regular Meeting
Wednesday, February 8, 2023 • 10:30 am to 1:00 pm
Club 604, 57 Arizona Memorial Drive, Honolulu, HI
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Transforming Lives - Strengthening Community |
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Member volunteer Pat Dixon at Club 604, located near Ford Island and the Arizona Memorial area. This is the site of the Regular Membership Meeting and Luncheon for Wednesday, February 8. Details in the Hospitality article in this newsletter. |
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Our Recipients Send Us Thankful Love |
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Our efforts in the community, through our philanthropic programs, are truly appreciated.We recently received a large envelope from Kealakehe Elementary School in Kailua-Kona on The Big Island. This envelope was crammed with personal thank-you notes from students, showing their appreciation for the school logo T-shirts we provided to them through Operation School Bell.
King Lunalilo Elementary School sent out a Tweet, including photos, with a mahalo for the Operation Wildlife presentation given to their 4th grade students. The photos and thanks were also included on their website.
Waikiki Health often sends their thanks for our We Care donations to their Youth Outreach program, serving homeless teens. Hospitals let us know how much our donations of Malama Bears, baby layettes and activity kits are appreciated.
Our Share recipients, such as Boys and Girls Club of Waianae, tell us how grateful they are that we pass along children’s clothing, books and toys each time Marty Kehoe makes a delivery. You can all be proud of the impact our organization is making throughout Hawaii.
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Under the category of “Nuts and Bolts": You may have heard that the digital parking meters in some of the downtown and Waikiki areas are temporarily out of order. This also applies to the parking meters on Young Street, near our Thrift Shop. For the time being, you do not need to use either coins or credit cards to park on Young Street. Parking is free! We will keep you posted if this situation changes, but for now you will not need to make the periodic walk out to your car to feed the meter. Maybe this is extra enticement to drop by the Thrift Shop to help out when you have a bit of free time.
Mahalo for all that you do.
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Wear Red or Pink at our
Next Regular Meeting
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The February Regular membership Meeting and Luncheon will be held from 10:30 to 1:00 PM, Wednesday, February 8th at Club 604, 57 Arizona Memorial Drive, Honolulu, HI 96706.
Wear Red or Pink for a Valentine's Day Theme. The cost is $26.00 per person.
Free Parking is available on both sides of Club 604. After parking, walk to the few steps by the flags then follow the walkway to the Marina Lanai where the luncheon will be held. The Lanai is on the ground floor: there is no need to climb the steps to the second floor.
The menu is as follows: Caesar Salad, Rice, Roasted Vegetables, Mac Nut Mahi Mahi, Chicken Katsu, Coconut Shrimp, Ice Tea or Soft Drinks and Brownies or Cookies for dessert. All will be served buffet style.
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Strategic Plan Meeting Upcoming March 8 |
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Mark your calendars for Wednesday, March 8. This is the morning everyone is invited to participate in the evaluation process.
How lucky we are to have members who have volunteered their homes to facilitate these important discussions. The venues will be Pearl City, Makiki, Waikiki, Hawaii Kai and Kailua. If you prefer to participate online in your own home, a Zoom link will be available. Sign-up sheets will be at the February `luncheon.
Thank you in advance for your participation.
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Finance Committee to Review New Budget |
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The Finance Committee will meet to review the current budget and develop the budget for Fiscal Year 2023-2024. All members of the Finance Committee are invited to attend. Please come with your Assistance League of Hawaii finance needs for next year. The meeting will be in the O’hana Room on Wednesday, February 22, 2023 at 9:30 am.
Members of the Finance Committee are:
Andrea Cyriacks – Treasurer
Ellen Wilson – Assistant Treasurer
Jim McClelland – Property Management
Peggy Monell – Thrift Store
Gloria McGehee-Koel – Resource Development
Helen Taufa’asau – Philanthropic Programs
Cathy Kissel – Strategic Planning
Laurelyn Berger – Operation School Bell
Hazel Sumile – Operation Wildlife
Miho Teipel - Outreach
Karen Kehoe – Share
Linda Tsark – We Care
Margie Van Swearingen – Finance Chairman
Marty Kehoe – General Membership
Nancy Sparacino – ex officio
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Philanthropic Programs: The Heart of Assistance League of Hawaii |
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Operation Wildlife member volunteers made a presentation at Lunalilo Elementary School, teaching 4th grade students on the importance of saving our endangered species. |
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Here are a few highlights of recent activities coming from our Philanthropic Programs. As we approach Valentine's Day, it is a good time to remember that our Programs are the “heart” of Assistance League Hawaii and new volunteers helping in our programs are always encouraged and welcomed. What a great way to show the “love” for our keiki and communities!
Operation School Bell: So far this year, OSB has provided 11,000 T-shirts to our schools and students, paying over $80,000. 51% of qualified schools have been served. We have completed calls to the rest of the 56 schools with reminders to order ASAP. The schools are really excited that we’re doing this again this year.
Kokua Clothing Boxes: Reorders are happening for items in our Kokua Clothing Boxes. Shorts were sent to Keaukaha Elementary in Hilo this past week. Volunteers are always needed to help with deliveries. If this might be something you could do, just check with Mary Monohon. She will gladly give you a school to work with.
Operation Wildlife: The Operation Wildlife (OWL) team made its first visit to Lunalilo Elementary School, located in the middle of Honolulu. Kids were so enthusiastic and exuberant and really enjoyed the whole presentation.
OWL has just made its first neighbor island visit to Hilo since the pandemic, visiting six schools in the Volcano/Puna/Pahoa area. The team for this trip included Marge Fabre, Linda Young, and Hazel Sumile, along with Linda's husband Joe Maloney. Reports coming from Hilo indicate that the schools are great - kids have been receptive and very appreciative and teachers are also enthused about the OWL presentations. More will be shared at our February Regular Membership Meeting.
If you are interested in this exciting program and want to help with presentations at one of our Oahu schools, potential volunteers are encouraged to come observe one of the scheduled OWL presentations. Just talk to Hazel, and she will tell you all about it.
Outreach… (One And Done): This program provides one-time emergency services to help those in tremendous need.
Some examples of how this program has provided this wonderful service in past years include:
- An iMac computer and iCloud software were purchased for the Boys and Girls Club of Waianae after-school videography program, serving 89 students.
- Food closet was provided for UH Tropical Agriculture students during the pandemic.
- Slippers were bought for the Big Island students for wearing safety around volcano “glass”.
If anyone has any ideas for helping youngsters and/or communities, please contact Miho Teipel at alohabutterfly888@gmail.com or call her at (808)342-9151.
We Care and Share continue to be busy providing many services to our keiki and needy communities.They also are always eager to have new volunteers. You can contact Linda Tsark for We Care, or Karen and Marty Kehoe to find out how you can help with the Share program.
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In KKV's January newsletter they reported about one of their many programs to help support their community, called "Seams Wonderful". Participants in this program develop sewing skills, learn English, socialize with friends, and make a small income. Our Share program plays a small, but very important part, in the success of this KKV program. Along with donating many sewing items, you may recall that we donated two mannequins that are used to promote their "Seams Wonderful" sales events. Way to go Share! We are making a difference! |
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National AL Relinquishes Control of Local Chapter Bylaws, Rules and Policies |
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National Assistance League has relinquished their control of local chapters’ Bylaws, Standing Rules and policies; directing chapters to city, county and state laws and regulations. As the laws regulating nonprofit organizations can vary from state to state, it is recommended to have a local nonprofit attorney review concerns and lend guidance about the legality of a chapter issue or document in question.
The Board is reviewing the Standing Rules, dated October 14, 2019. We will present the revised edition of the Standing Rules at the Regular Membership Meeting on Wednesday, February 8, 2023. For those members not in attendance and everyone else, please look for them in your email.
We shall review and update our Chapter Bylaws next month.
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Happy Valentine’s Day to Our Volunteers |
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Happy Valentine’s Day to all……with special hearts going out to Diann King for the spectacular job of making our upstairs bathroom look like a 5-star hotel and organizing the men’s active wear for sale. Then hearts surround Ku’ulei Pai, Ellen Dihel and Olivia Yule for all the sorting, organizing and displaying of the many bins of women’s active wear.
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Thrift Shop Days & Hours:
Tuesday & Thursdays 9:30 am to 1:00 pm
Saturdays 9:30 am to 3:00 pm
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Thrift Shop Cashiers’ Calendar |
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Your Service Hour Report is Important |
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The Holidays have provided nearly all of our member volunteers with many work hours to account for. Whether you work on one of our many programs, in the Thrift Shop or other at-home tasks, it is important to count your hours this month. Please send me a log of your hours, including meetings and transportation. All volunteer hours will be included in the grand total for Assistance League of Hawaii.
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Amazon Smile To Sunset February 20 |
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We got notice from Amazon.com which stated that Amazon Smile will be discontinued on February 20. In an email letter sent to various organizations, Amazon stated:
“We are writing to let you know that we plan to wind down AmazonSmile by February 20, 2023. We will continue to pursue and invest in other areas where we’ve seen we can make meaningful change—from building affordable housing to providing access to computer science education for students in underserved communities to using our logistics infrastructure and technology to assist broad communities impacted by natural disasters.”
This action has not received much coverage. We anticipate that more will be stated about this as the February 20th deadline approaches.
Up to that date, if you are an Amazon Smile contributor, you can still make your donation through your Amazon purchases up to February 19.
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Newsletter Editor: Melvin Ah Ching assistanceleaguehimarketing@gmail.com
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